We have a Blue Heeler named Jack, and we got him in Sept. 2021. At the time we had 2 other dogs also Yuki and Princess. Unfortunately, Yuki passed away in Oct. 2022, and Princess passed away in Feb. 2023. During that time Jack would play with them all the time, when they passed away he started to get very depressed and began to become codependent with my mom. It didn’t help my mom was home all the time because she left her job for personal reasons. So in order to help him be his old self we would take him on play dates with my uncle dogs Copper and my cousins dog Luna. We debated for a bit if we should get another dog for Jack so in April 2023 we got Scout, a chocolate lab, when he was about a month old. At first it seemed everything was fine until a few months ago, it seemed like they would play fight but it would escalate. Sometimes it happens out of nowhere, where my and Jack are walking and he would see Scout and lunge at him.
I’ve tried to come up with multiple theories why he’s acting this way. But I’m getting worried I moved out a month ago to live with my sister in a different city. I’m scared if I don’t intervene in their fights since I’m gone, Jack will do something terrible to Scout.
Theories I’ve come up with
- He’s attacking because he’s annoyed with Scout(since he is a 2 year old and Scout is a puppy who has ALOT of energy, I guess he would take the play fighting too far) it sound so dumb typing this
I’ve tried to come up with multiple theories why he’s acting this way. But I’m getting worried I moved out a month ago to live with my sister in a different city. I’m scared if I don’t intervene in their fights since I’m gone, Jack will do something terrible to Scout.
Theories I’ve come up with
- He’s attacking because he’s annoyed with Scout(since he is a 2 year old and Scout is a puppy who has ALOT of energy, I guess he would take the play fighting too far) it sound so dumb typing this
- He is showing his dominance as the Alpha(it kinda make sense Scout is a lab and he’s already bigger than Jack and whenever Jack attacks scout, he doesn’t fight back just keeps crying)
- He is herding Scout in a way(since Jack is a blue heeler, a herding dog, he’s trying to get Scout to listen to him. When we had chickens and cows, he would playing with the chickens and would have them at the throat pinned which would lead to their death sometimes)
- He’s jealous of Scout(it could be he sees scout get a lot of love also and he’s competing him for it) it sounds dumb also